International Journal of Automation and Computing

International Journal of Automation and Computing (ISSN 1476-8186) is a joint publication of Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Automation and Computing Society in the United Kingdom. Prof. TN Tan Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100080 People’s Republic of China Email: tnt@nlpr.ia.ac.cn

Comparison of Energy Harvesting Systems for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) offer an attractive solution to many environmental,security,and process monitoring problems.However,one barrier to their fuller adoption is the need to supply electrical power over extended periods of time without the need for dedicated wiring.Energy harvesting provides a potential solution to this problem in many applications.This paper reviews the characteristics and energy requirements of typical sensor network nodes,assesses a range of potential ambient energy sources,and outlines the characteristics of a wide range of energy conversion devices.It then proposes a method to compare these diverse sources and conversion mechanisms in terms of their normalised power density.

Stability of Iterative Learning Control with Data Dropouts via Asynchronous Dynamical System

In this paper, the stability of iterative learning control with data dropouts is discussed. By the super vector formulation, an iterative learning control （ILC） system with data dropouts can be modeled as an asynchronous dynamical system with rate constraints on events in the iteration domain. The stability condition is provided in the form of linear matrix inequalities （LMIS） depending on the stability of asynchronous dynamical systems. The analysis is supported by simulations.

Adaptive Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Rigid Robotic Manipulators

In order to apply the terminal sliding mode control to robot manipulators,prior knowledge of the exact upper bound of parameter uncertainties,and external disturbances is necessary.However,this bound will not be easily determined because of the complexity and unpredictability of the structure of uncertainties in the dynamics of the robot.To resolve this problem in robot control,we propose a new robust adaptive terminal sliding mode control for tracking problems in robotic manipulators.By applying this adaptive controller,prior knowledge is not required because the controller is able to estimate the upper bound of uncertainties and disturbances.Also,the proposed controller can eliminate the chattering effect without losing the robustness property.The stability of the control algorithm can be easily verified by using Lyapunov theory.The proposed controller is tested in simulation on a two-degree-of-freedom robot to prove its effectiveness.

Adaptive Dynamic Surface Control for Integrated Missile Guidance and Autopilot

Integrated guidance and control for homing missiles utilizing adaptive dynamic surface control approach is considered based on the three channels independence design idea. A time-varying integrated guidance and control model with unmatched uncertainties is first formulated for the pitch channel, and an adaptive dynamic surface control algorithm is further developed to deal with these unmatched uncertainties. It is proved that the proposed feedback controller can ensure not only the accuracy of target interception, but also the stability of the missile dynamics. Then, the same control approach is further applied to the control design of the yaw and roll channels. The 6-degree-of-freedom （6-DOF） nonlinear missile simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and advantage of the proposed integrated guidance and control design scheme.

Delay-range-dependent Stability Criterion for Interval Time-delay Systems with Nonlinear Perturbations

In this paper, we consider the problem of robust stability for a class of linear systems with interval time-varying delay under nonlinear perturbations using Lyapunov-Krasovskii （LK） functional approach. By partitioning the delay-interval into two segments of equal length, and evaluating the time-derivative of a candidate LK functional in each segment of the delay-interval, a less conservative delay-dependent stability criterion is developed to compute the maximum allowable bound for the delay-range within which the system under consideration remains asymptotically stable. In addition to the delay-bi-segmentation analysis procedure, the reduction in conservatism of the proposed delay-dependent stability criterion over recently reported results is also attributed to the fact that the time-derivative of the LK functional is bounded tightly using a newly proposed bounding condition without neglecting any useful terms in the delay-dependent stability analysis. The analysis, subsequently, yields a stable condition in convex linear matrix inequality （LMI） framework that can be solved non-conservatively at boundary conditions using standard numerical packages. Furthermore, as the number of decision variables involved in the proposed stability criterion is less, the criterion is computationally more effective. The effectiveness of the proposed stability criterion is validated through some standard numerical examples.

Modeling and Control of Hybrid Machine Systems—a Five-bar Mechanism Case

A hybrid machine （HM） as a typical mechatronic device, is a useful tool to generate smooth motion, and combines the motions of a large constant speed motor with a small servo motor by means of a mechnical linkage mechanism, in order to provide a powerful programmable drive system. To achieve design objectives, a control system is required. To design a better control system and analyze the performance of an HM, a dynamic model is necessary. This paper first develops a dynamic model of an HM with a five-bar mechanism using a Lagrangian formulation. Then, several important properties which are very useful in system analysis, and control system design, are presented. Based on the developed dynamic model, two control approaches, computed torque, and combined computed torque and slide mode control, are adopted to control the HM system. Simulation results demonstrate the control performance and limitations of each control approach.

Robust Stability and Stabilization of Discrete Singular Systems with Interval Time-varying Delay and Linear Fractional Uncertainty

The robust stability and robust stabilization problems for discrete singular systems with interval time-varying delay and linear fractional uncertainty are discussed. A new delay-dependent criterion is established for the nominal discrete singular delay systems to be regular, causal and stable by employing the linear matrix inequality （LMI） approach. It is shown that the newly proposed criterion can provide less conservative results than some existing ones. Then, with this criterion, the problems of robust stability and robust stabilization for uncertain discrete singular delay systems are solved, and the delay-dependent LMI conditions are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Dynamic Cluster Head for Lifetime Efficiency in WSN

Saving energy and increasing network lifetime are significant challenges in wireless sensor networks （WSNs）. In this paper, we propose a mechanism to distribute the responsibility of cluster-heads among the wireless sensor nodes in the same cluster based on the ZigBee standard, which is the latest WSN standard. ZigBee supports ad hoc on-demand vector （AODV） and cluster-tree routing protocols in its routing layer. However, none of these protocols considers the energy level of the nodes in the network establishing process or in the data routing process. The cluster-tree routing protocol supports single or multi-cluster networks. However, each single cluster in the multi-cluster network has only one node acting as a cluster head. These cluster-heads are fixed in each cluster during the network lifetime. Consequently, using these cluster-heads will cause them to die quickly, and the entire linked nodes to these cluster-heads will be disconnected from the main network. Therefore, the proposed technique to distribute the role of the cluster head among the wireless sensor nodes in the same cluster is vital to increase the lifetime of the network. Our proposed technique is better in terms of performance than the original structure of these protocols. It has increased the lifetime of the wireless sensor nodes, and increased the lifetime of the WSN by around 50% of the original network lifetime.

An Imperfect-debugging Fault-detection Dependent-parameter Software

Software reliability growth models （SRGMs） incorporating the imperfect debugging and learning phenomenon of developers have recently been developed by many researchers to estimate software reliability measures such as the number of remaining faults and software reliability. However, the model parameters of both the fault content rate function and fault detection rate function of the SRGMs are often considered to be independent from each other. In practice, this assumption may not be the case and it is worth to investigate what if it is not. In this paper, we aim for such study and propose a software reliability model connecting the imperfect debugging and learning phenomenon by a common parameter among the two functions, called the imperfect-debugging fault-detection dependent-parameter model. Software testing data collected from real applications are utilized to illustrate the proposed model for both the descriptive and predictive power by determining the non-zero initial debugging process.

A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem with Pickup and Delivery

In this paper, a hybrid genetic algorithm （GA） is proposed for the traveling salesman problem （TSP） with pickup and delivery （TSPPD）. In our algorithm, a novel pheromone-based crossover operator is advanced that utilizes both local and global information to construct offspring. In addition, a local search procedure is integrated into the GA to accelerate convergence. The proposed GA has been tested on benchmark instances, and the computational results show that it gives better convergence than existing heuristics.

Observer-based Adaptive Iterative Learning Control for Nonlinear Systems with Time-varying Delays

An observer-based adaptive iterative learning control （AILC） scheme is developed for a class of nonlinear systems with unknown time-varying parameters and unknown time-varying delays. The linear matrix inequality （LMI） method is employed to design the nonlinear observer. The designed controller contains a proportional-integral-derivative （PID） feedback term in time domain. The learning law of unknown constant parameter is differential-difference-type, and the learning law of unknown time-varying parameter is difference-type. It is assumed that the unknown delay-dependent uncertainty is nonlinearly parameterized. By constructing a Lyapunov-Krasovskii-like composite energy function （CEF）, we prove the boundedness of all closed-loop signals and the convergence of tracking error. A simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the control algorithm proposed in this paper.

Soil Parameter Identification for Wheel-terrain Interaction Dynamics and Traversability Prediction

This paper presents a novel technique for identifying soil parameters for a wheeled vehicle traversing unknown terrain. The identified soil parameters are required for predicting vehicle drawbar pull and wheel drive torque, which in turn can be used for traversability prediction, traction control, and performance optimization of a wheeled vehicle on unknown terrain. The proposed technique is based on the Newton Raphson method. An approximated form of a wheel-soil interaction model based on Composite Simpson＇s Rule is employed for this purpose. The key soil parameters to be identified are internal friction angle, shear deformation modulus, and lumped pressure-sinkage coefficient. The fourth parameter, cohesion, is not too relevant to vehicle drawbar pull, and is assigned an average value during the identification process. Identified parameters are compared with known values, and shown to be in agreement. The identification method is relatively fast and robust. The identified soil parameters can effectively be used to predict drawbar pull and wheel drive torque with good accuracy. The use of identified soil parameters to design a traversability criterion for wheeled vehicles traversing unknown terrain is presented.

An Adaptive Median Filter Algorithm Based on B-spline Function

According to the B-spline convolution mask, first, the contrast sensitiveness （CS） is computed and then is viewed as a noise sensitiveness coeficient （NSC） to adaptively determine a noise-recognized threshold value. Based on the noise density function （NDF） in a 3×3 window, the filtering window size is adaptively adjusted, and then a median filter is used to eliminate the noise-marked pixels. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can preserve image detail information well and effectively remove the noises, particularly the impulse noises that is also called salt-and-pepper noises superimposed on the computed tomography （CT） and magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） medical images.

Adaptive Output-feedback Regulation for Nonlinear Delayed Systems Using Neural Network

A novel adaptive neural network （NN） output-feedback regulation algorithm for a class of nonlinear time-varying timedelay systems is proposed. Both the designed observer and controller are independent of time delay. Different from the existing results, where the upper bounding functions of time-delay terms are assumed to be known, we only use an NN to compensate for all unknown upper bounding functions without that assumption. The proposed design method is proved to be able to guarantee semi-global uniform ultimate boundedness of all the signals in the closed system, and the system output is proved to converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the control scheme.

A Hybrid Immigrants Scheme for Genetic Algorithms in Dynamic Environments

Dynamic optimization problems are a kind of optimization problems that involve changes over time. They pose a serious challenge to traditional optimization methods as well as conventional genetic algorithms since the goal is no longer to search for the optimal solution（s） of a fixed problem but to track the moving optimum over time. Dynamic optimization problems have attracted a growing interest from the genetic algorithm community in recent years. Several approaches have been developed to enhance the performance of genetic algorithms in dynamic environments. One approach is to maintain the diversity of the population via random immigrants. This paper proposes a hybrid immigrants scheme that combines the concepts of elitism, dualism and random immigrants for genetic algorithms to address dynamic optimization problems. In this hybrid scheme, the best individual, i.e., the elite, from the previous generation and its dual individual are retrieved as the bases to create immigrants via traditional mutation scheme. These elitism-based and dualism-based immigrants together with some random immigrants are substituted into the current population, replacing the worst individuals in the population. These three kinds of immigrants aim to address environmental changes of slight, medium and significant degrees respectively and hence efficiently adapt genetic algorithms to dynamic environments that are subject to different severities of changes. Based on a series of systematically constructed dynamic test problems, experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of genetic algorithms with the hybrid immigrants scheme and traditional random immigrants scheme. Experimental results validate the efficiency of the proposed hybrid immigrants scheme for improving the performance of genetic algorithms in dynamic environments.

A New Type of Hybrid Fish-like Microrobot

In order to develop a new type of fish-like microrobot with swimming, walking, and floating motions, in our past research, we developed a hybrid microrobot actuated by ionic conducting polymer film （ICPF） actuators. But the microrobot had some problems in walking and floating motions. In this paper, we propose a concept of hybrid microrobot （see Fig. 1）. The microrobot is actuated by a pair of caudal fins, a base with legs and an array of artificial swim bladders. We have developed a prototype of the base with legs and one artificial swim bladder, respectively, and carried out experiments for evaluating their characteristics. Experimental results show the base with legs can realize walking speed of 6 mm/s and rotating speed of 7.1 degrees/s respectively, and the prototype of the artificial swim bladder has a maximum floatage of 2.6 mN. The experimental results also indicate that the microrobot has some advantages, such as walking motion with 2 degrees of freedom, the walking ability on rough surface （sand paper）, the controllable floatage, etc. This kind of fish-like microrobot is expected for industrial and medical applications.

Learning from Fish: Kinematics and Experimental Hydrodynamics for Roboticists

Over the past 20 years, experimental analyses of the biomechanics of locomotion in fishes have generated a number of key findings that are relevant to the construction of biomimetic fish robots. In this paper, we present 16 results from recent experimental research on the mechanics, kinematics, fluid dynamics, and control of fish locomotion that summarize recent work on fish biomechanics. The findings and principles that have emerged from biomechanical studies of fish locomotion provide important insights into the functional design of fishes and suggest specific design features relevant to construction of robotic fish-inspired vehicles that underlie the high locomotor performance exhibited by fishes.

A Method for Trust Management in Cloud Computing: Data Coloring by Cloud Watermarking

With the development of Internet technology and human computing, the computing environment has changed dramatically over the last three decades. Cloud computing emerges as a paradigm of Internet computing in which dynamical, scalable and often virtuMized resources are provided as services. With virtualization technology, cloud computing offers diverse services （such as virtual computing, virtual storage, virtual bandwidth, etc.） for the public by means of multi-tenancy mode. Although users are enjoying the capabilities of super-computing and mass storage supplied by cloud computing, cloud security still remains as a hot spot problem, which is in essence the trust management between data owners and storage service providers. In this paper, we propose a data coloring method based on cloud watermarking to recognize and ensure mutual reputations. The experimental results show that the robustness of reverse cloud generator can guarantee users＇ embedded social reputation identifications. Hence, our work provides a reference solution to the critical problem of cloud security.